Ebbw Vale tennis player Charlotte Carey’s young career has so far been linked with the Commonwealth Games.

Four years ago she was the youngest player to be selected for Team Wales in Delhi aged 14.

Then this week the day of the official send-off for the Glasgow 2014 Games coincided with her 18th birthday where Charlotte was presented with a cake in front of the squad by new team captain Aled Sion Davies.

“It’s been great to spend my 18th birthday here at the team send-off,” said Carey.

“Getting the kit and meeting the rest of the team is great.

“Being together as a table tennis team is nice as well because we all live abroad and we rarely see each other.

“So it’s nice to meet up and get all our kit and just talk about the experience before going to Glasgow.

“We didn’t really expect the Commonwealth Games to come around this fast but I think the whole team are really excited to be going to Scotland now.”

Carey admitted she learned a lot in India and is hoping Wales can challenge for a table tennis medal in Glasgow

“I think that experience will help because it will be less daunting this time,” said Carey.

“It was nice to be looked after as the youngest one but I’m looking forward to it this time.

“Last time I was really nervous and I didn’t know what was going on but this time I’m more excited and I’m looking forward to competing rather than just going to gain experience.

“I am hoping to push towards the medals.

“We’d like a top six finish in the team event and then it’s all about the draw in the other events but hopefully I can go for a medal.

“It’s nice that we’ve got five girls this time around because there will always be four on the bench.

“It’s good because we could get an injury or just change the team up because it’s not that much of a big difference between our level of performance.”

Carey plays her league table tennis in a professional league in Germany but spends a lot of time travelling around the continent competing and will appear in the European Championship in Italy before linking up with Wales in Glasgow.